Magnetic game apparatus



Feb. 1, 1966 P. B. SCHOOLCRAFT ETAL 3,232,620

MAGNETIC GAME APPARATUS Filed Dec. 4;, 1962 INVENTORS United States Patent 3,232,620 MAGNETIC GAME APPARATUS Paul B. Schoolcraft, and Richard W. lhench, both of I 609 Vine St., Liverpool, N .Y. Filed Dec. 4, 1962, Ser. No. 242,310 1 Claim. (Cl. 273-134) This invention relates to games employing a magnet for securing a gamepiece in position on a game board, and more particularly to game boards having areas susceptible to magnetic attraction interspersed with other areas not so susceptible so as to effect automatic movement of a magnet-bearing gamepiece when placed on a non-susceptible area.

Game boards having paramagnetic and non-magnetic portions for use with a magnet-bearing gamepiece for effecting the element of chance in the game are known in the art, but none of the known game boards are adapted to utilize the contrast between paramagnetic and nonmagnetic areas for efiecting realistic movement of the entire gamepiece itself with respect to the game board.

The principal object of the invention, accordingly, is to provide a game board with paramagnetic areas interspersecl with non-magnetic areas so as to produce automatic movement of a magnet-bearing gamepiece with respect to the board when it is placed on a non-magnetic area.

A further object is to provide a game board with a backing of paramagnetic material underlying some areas of the board and with no backing underlying other areas, the board being disposed at an angle to the horizontal, for effecting the sliding of a magnet bearing gamepiece from a non-magnetic area to a paramagnetic area when the gamepiece is placed on the former, and for preventing the sliding movement of the gamepiece when it is placed on a paramagnetic area.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a game board according to the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view on the line 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of the paramagnetic backing sheet underlying the surface sheets as viewed in the direction of the arrows 33 in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevational view on a reduced scale of a support stand for use with the game board of FIGURE 1;

FIGURES 5 and 6 are enlarged plan and side elevational views respectively of a gamepiece for use with the game board of FIGURE 1.

Referring now to FIGURES 1-4, the game board 10 is a laminated structure including a sheet of paper or cardboard 11 having printed thereon the representation of a mountain. Overlying sheet 11 is a thin sheet 12 of smooth transparent plastic, such as cellulose acetate or acrylic resin or the like, having good stiffness characteristics. Sheet 12 provides the playing surface for the board and is marked off into a plurality of rectangular areas 13 having equal dimensions.

Underlying sheet 11 is a thin metallic sheet 14 of paramagnetic material having cut-away portions, represented in FIGURE 3 as stippled areas. The cut-away portions are shaped and dimensioned so as to underlie certain selected areas 13 of sheets 11 and 12 when the board is assembled. The paramagnetic sheet 14, there fore, is divided into paramagnetic areas 15 and nonmagnetic areas 16, adapted to underlie the areas 13 of 3,232,629 Patented Feb. 1, 1966 the playing surface as indicated by the broken lines in FIGURE 3.

The underside of paramagnetic sheet 14, opposite sheets 11 and 12, may also preferably be provided with sheets 11' and 12 similar to sheets 11 and 12, the paper sheet 11 bearing a representation of a mountain disposed oppositely with respect to the paramagnetic sheet 14 for variety when the board 10 is turned over. The sheets 11, 12, 14, 12' and 11' are all secured together by a suitable adhesive or by other means.

FIGURE 4 shows an easel 17 of folded cardboard of conventional design for supporting the board 10 at an angle of about 45 degrees to the horizontal, it being understood, however, that any other suitable means for maintaining the board 10 at an angle to the horizontal may be supplied.

One or more gamepieces 18 as shown in FIGURES 5 and 6 may be used in combination with the game board 10. A permanent magnet 19 is imbedded in the bottom of gamepiece 18 so as to provide the gamepiece with a flat and smooth bottom surface 20 having an area about the same as or slightly less than each playing area 13 of the game board.

In playing the game, each gamepiece 18 may be placed in a starting area 13 at the bottom of the board and advanced in any direction a certain number of squares, or areas 13, toward the top of the mountain as determined by the throw of dice or spin of a wheel or other device for selecting a small number by chance. If the gamepiece, at the end of the move, is placed on an area 13 overlying a paramagnetic area 15 it will be maintained in position by magnetic attraction between the magnet 19 of the gamepiece and the paramagnetic material of the sheet 14 portion of the board. If the gamepiece lands over a non-magnetic area 16, however, where the sheet 14 has been cut away, it will be apparent that the gamepiece will slide downward on board 10 to a paramagnetic area 15 below the area 13 on which it has been placed.

It will be understood, therefore, that an element of chance is provided by this movement of the gamepiece 18 with respect to board 10, and a gamepiece may be advanced to the top of the mountain only over certain routes in simulation of actual mountain climbing.

It will now be apparent that the game board 10, when used with gamepiece 18, provides an additional element of chance in a game in which the gamepiece itself auto matically changes its position with respect to the playing surface when released in normal position on a non-magnetic area, and that this automatic movement of the gamepiece is in simulation of real life movement in the setting which the game board provides.

As will be apparent to those familiar with the art, the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The embodiments disclosed are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative rather than restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

In combination, a game piece, and a game board having a smooth playing surface carrying a pictorial representation of a mountainside, said surface being marked off into equal square playing areas arranged in a checked pattern, some areas being backed with paramagnetic material so as to be paramagnetic areas, the paramagnetic areas being interspersed with non-magnetic areas backed by non-magnetic material, the gamepiece having a permanent magnet imbedded in the bottom thereof, the bottom surface of the gamepiece being fiat and smooth,

3,232,620 v 3 4 means for supporting the board playing surface at a pre- References Cited by the Examiner selected angle to the horizontal, said angle hearing such UNITED STATES PATENTS a relation to the strength of the magnet that when a 80 11/1932 Dingledine.

gamepiece is placed on a paramagnetic area the game- 1,8889

piece remains there, and when it is placed on a non- 5 2,619,349 11/1952 Abrahamson 27311 magnetic e a released it will slide downward to and 2,729,451 1/1956 27314 stog on the next paramagnetic area below the area on which it is placed simulating the accidental fall of a DELBERT BLOWEPilmary Exammer' mountain climber. E. R. ZACK, Assistant Examiner. 

